Pomegranate Success! in Mid-Atlantic. I live in Chesapeake VA, which is very near the coast. We have HOT humid summers, but I have had success with my pomegranates

And . . . . I still believe . . . . that the fungus ‘rode in’ on those crepe myrtles. :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

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Kim - you asked

“i just started growing pomgrantes could you tell me more about this fungus that prevents fruits from forming? do you know how long it takes for the fruits to ripen from the flowering stage as your photo? mines are similar now and i dont know what to expect.”

I think you will run into similar problems as the ones I face in VA. It’s the humidity that is the culprit. I don’t think growers face the same problems in sunny, dry CA or Israel, or other places where pomegranates thrive. But here is what happened to me -

For years my pomegranate tree (Wonderful variety) did not form fruit. Then one year, when it was at least 8 years old - there they were . . . pomegranates. They weren’t huge - but they were great.

Then after a few years of beautiful fruit, I began to notice blackish brown spots on the exterior of the fruit. Interiors were fine. Then more spots. Larger spots. Within 3 years or so, the disease began to spread to the interior of the fruit.

By then I had acquired many other varieties. It was an experiment for me - to see what other pomegranates were like and to see if they would grow in VA. I have 20-plus varieties - and have only lost 2 trees. I think the winter was too much for them. The young pomegranates in the orchard (my first 3 are in the landscape near my house) are healthy - but whatever fruit they produce has evidence of the same fungus. That is when I went online to find out what I could do.

I found that it is a fungus - a couple actually. I think I had been a Fruit Forum member for a year or two at that time - and asked for help from the members. The fungal culprits were explained more, by folks on the forum. Some people who answered lived in CA, though, and didn’t have the problems that I have. They suggested copper spray. That just wasn’t enough.

So I contacted my alma mater’s extension service - at University of Florida. Florida is doing trials to see if they can rival CA in pomegranate production . . . but ‘talk about humidity’! Their pomegranates were getting clobbered with fungal issues. But they were able to tell me which fungicides helped to control the fungus . . . although they are not easily obtainable for the hobby gardener/fruit grower.

According to their ‘bottom line’ advice - the fungus has to be addressed at bloom, to protect the fruit.

This is a tough one, because pomegranates will bloom for months! I’ve decided to keep a sprayer handy and spray weekly at the start of bloom. When a good deal of fruit is formed - I am going to try to pull blooms as they continue to form. Sprays need to be alternated to avoid immunity. I am using Serenade. Luna Experience. Immunox. Infuse. I spray the trees and the ‘floor’.

My pomegranates are just forming buds and flowers. I won’t be able to harvest any fruit until August. Late August, probably. Different varieties ripen at different times. Wonderful and Granada are my 2 most successful fruit producers so far - and Granada ripens a couple of weeks earlier than Wonderful.

This year Salavatski and Afganski are loaded with buds and blooms. A few of my plants in the orchard have gotten large enough to support fruit - and I hope that they will hold onto whatever forms. I can’t tell you ‘when’ they ripen. I’ll just have to see. If Granada and Wonderful are similar to the others - I expect the others will ripen close to them.

So . . . . . from blossom to fruit . . . 3.5 - 4 months.

This may be too much information - but here is the scientific explanation of the fungus.

Please keep me posted on how your plants are doing. Good Luck!

Karen

Diseases on Pomegranates - FL.pdf (267.3 KB)

PomStudy-FL-Xavier.Vallad.pdf (488.6 KB)

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I specifically chose my variety for disease resistance per uga documentation. So if this year, we don’t get some edible fruit, the pom experiment is over. And that’s a shame cause I love them, but space is too limited on a city lot…

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Blooms today were perfect!

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Did you get fruit at all?
Sometimes it takes Pomegranates years to form fruit.
Or did you get fruit that suffered from the fungal issues I described?
I was told to prune them to ‘open center’ - and I did that this year, more than usual.
Hope you get fruit. Yours is a beautiful tree.

It looks as though all your blooms open at one time. Mine are so staggered. They bloom for months - literally. What variety is yours?

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Tippy, I just printed out your fungicide group chart.
I’ll make sure that I use fungicides from alternating groups.
Right now I only have access to Luna Experience, Serenade - and the usual ones - Bonide and Immunox . . . Captan and such. I’ll see if I can expand my spray program to include another one or 2 from other groups. Thanks again for this info.

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This one is suhr anor. I got a few fruit over the past 3 years but the rot got them. This year it has bloomed much more heavily. I pruned the center out and fertilized heavily. You can tell the open center from this other angle.

But I will just put some feijoas in this spot if I don’t get at least 6 salvageable fruit this year.

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Maybe I should not be giving advice . . . :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: . . . (Fungus Central, here!) but I’ve been ‘hemming them up’ - taking off all lower branches and inward-growing new sprouts. Air has to be able to get in from underneath, as well. It’s an ongoing process with most of them. Some refuse to ‘get with the program’ - and are continually trying to get really thick and bushy . . . all summer long! As is their nature. Wonderful is ‘wonderful’ at that. Some others seem to respond to training. I’ve learned that pomegranates are extremely stubborn. And grow very fast. It’s hard to keep up.
Does yours get full sun?
Ya know . . . I have friends in this area who have ‘stray’ pomegranate trees. Ones that have been there forever. They didn’t plant them. They don’t know what variety the trees are. They do N O T H I N G to them and know nothing about caring for them (as recommended). And they get clean pomegranates. Maybe poms just need to be ignored to cooperate!

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I found the performance of mine improved with age, possibly because the bushes were getting higher?

Maybe it just takes time.

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So far so good. Sprayed some silver during the drier weeks…

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Spoke with Michael McConkey from Edible Landscaping concerning the sooty rot on the fruit. He says it is an anthranose and has to be sprayed before and after flowering. Sorry forgot to ask what he was spraying.

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I pruned to open up the centers, late this winter. But it’s a constant thing with pomegranates - they just want to ‘fill back in’ - so I rarely go out there without my clippers.
Also . . . I have been spraying with Serenade, Immunox, and Infuse - alternating. I try to spray every 2 weeks or so. More often after it rains.
So far - (knock on wood) - I have had just a few fruits that show the anthracnose. It’s not just anthracnose, however . . . there are other things at work. Here is a paper that describes some of the problems I see, here in VA - and am trying to control.

Diseases on Pomegranates - FL.pdf (267.3 KB)

I posted this paper before - maybe you missed it - so I’ll attach it again.
And here are some photos of my fruit, that I took this week. Some show little dark dots - but not the big blotches and sunken areas that would be apparent in July, usually. Maybe I can get through the season without losing the fruit.

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@PomGranny Your poms look great so far! I’m also rotating between different fungicides. I’m using copper and captan, with more success than in previous years. Hopefully the success continues even through the highest humidity periods of the summer.
On a separate note, if you ever have a spare Wonderful seedling, I’d be most appreciative and could easily pick it up or pay for mailing, whichever you prefer. :slight_smile:

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Hi Gigi!
I am ‘cautiously’ optimistic - because I’ve had better results this summer, too.
I’m using Immunox and Infuse - and Serenade . . . alternating. And so far many of the fruit is clear of that dreaded black mess! Whenever I find a pomegranate hanging with evidence of black fungus on its calyx - I pull it and throw it in the trash. A few years ago that would have ‘killed’ me to do it - but now . . . ‘sacrifice a few for the better of the group’ is my chant. It eases the pain! :grin:

I do not have any seedlings - of anything. Do you mean little volunteers that come up? All of mine are attached at the root. I guess we could try separating a couple of them?

Otherwise - I had luck starting a cutting from a little branch - in a cup with potting soil and using Rootone. I did this from a cutting from my Grenada. It’s about 4 years old now, about 4’ high and has fruit that is looking pretty good so far. I had to try to start several in order to get one viable one.

You are welcome to try that with any of my varieties. There are some that seem to do better here - in general and with combating the fungus.

Message me - and maybe we can plan to get together, if you are interested.
We can get you some cuttings - and try to dig up a ‘baby’.

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After trying to grow a dozen or so different pomegranate cultivars in zone 7B North Carolina for a decade with no success, I finally had 13 ripened fruit on my Salavatski and 2 fruit on my Kaj-acik-anor. I’ve never sprayed them with anything. I think this past summer was relatively dry by our standards, and the rot didn’t get out of hand. Some of the immature fruit dropped or were removed because of some kind of black rot, but in past years all the fruit have been affected with this. Good thing they are such pretty shrubs, otherwise I might have given up on them a while ago.

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Fabulous! I’ll bet if you spray the blossoms with fungicide you will even get more fruit. We are in the same ‘zone’ - but I had quite a bit of fungus on some - and almost no fungus on others. I am quite sure that the difference was that I was able to spray some in the blossom stage . . . and not others. :+1:t2:

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@VBGigi . . .
Hi! How are your poms doing ? I lost a lot of fruit, but I took them off as soon as I saw the blackened calyx areas - or large brown patches starting to sink on the sides of the fruit. Some were ripe enough at that point to eat - but not really as ready as I’d like.
I kept spraying every so often - mostly just the fruit. It seems that several pomegranate people on this forum have had a bit better luck this summer. There was a time, here in my yard, when there was no fungus . . . The first couple of years that my plants had fruit - they were fine. Hope at some point that the disease dies out!

You had asked about a Wonderful seedling. ? I never had a ‘volunteer’ come up, that I know of. (I’ll look at the younger Wonderful, out in the field and see if any of the suckers are not growing from the tree itself.)

I had good results starting a new little tree from a branch of my Grenada a few years back. I planted several and got one really nice one. I kept it in a large fabric pot for about a year - and then put it out in the orchard in 2020, I believe. This year it has several poms on it. You should try that. I just took some rooting powder and coated the bottom 3-4" or so, of the cutting, and stuck it in potting soil! I kept it in my sunroom - and it rooted. Then when it got warm enough, in the spring - I put it outdoors.

Let me know how your poms fared this summer. Hope you are eating some by now! - Karen

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Has the fruit of Hyrdanar X Goulosha gotten any better for you, how does it deal with the cold?

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I’m envious! I have not gotten a Salavatski to produce and hold onto any fruit, yet. I had thought that would be a great variety for this area . . . but maybe not! Purple Heart was my most successful this summer. Hardly any fungal problems. But . . . I did spray. How did they taste? Tart?

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Our ‘Salavatski’, it produced for the first time, during the 7th season in the ground! Yet shothole borers caused a few year delay of producing for the plant.

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